Meaning of common riding | Babel Free

Definitions

An annual festival in some Scottish towns, in which people conduct a ceremonial procession around the boundaries of the town in order to delineate the area and check for encroachment by neighbouring landowners.

Examples

“It was this folk-moot which instituted the common riding and invested it with all the religious ceremonial which primitive religion attached to every event in the life of its votaries.”

“This flag, or at least a copy of it, is said to have been borne at the annual 'common riding' ever since.”

“Because the order of each summer's common ridings is printed on the soul of native Borderers, it can be difficult to find the sequence written down anywhere.”

“The great day of the whole year in Selkirk is that of the Common Riding, the Riding of the Marches of the town's property.”

“There are four genuine or 'real' Common Ridings in the Borders: Selkirk Common Riding, with its 'Casting the Colours' ceremony, dates from the early 16th century; Harwick Common Riding was first recorded in 1640; Langholm Common Riding, which Hugh MacDiarmid loved to attend, dates from 1816, although the Langholm marches were perambulated before then; finally, Lauder Common Riding, like many other traditional customs, lapsed in the 19th century but was revived in 1911 to commemorate the coronation of George V.”

“It is the duty of the band to waken Hawick and to alert its folk, known as Teries, that today is the Common Riding, the loudest, proudest day in the town's calendar.”

CEFR level